African Americans throughout the nation celebrate Juneteenth, but who knows what actually happened on June 19, 1865? As the nation observes the second federal legal holiday marking the emancipation of enslaved people in Texas, there are a number of misconceptions about the historical event that keep getting repeated.
Myth #1: President Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, and it’s outrageous that it took two and a half years for the news to finally reach enslaved people in Texas.
Fact: Many slaves knew about Lincoln’s executive order emancipating them. The news was widely covered in Texas newspapers—with an anti-abolitionist spin—and Black people would have overheard white people discussing it in private and in public. Moreover, “There was an incredibly sophisticated communication network among slaves in Texas,” says Edward T. Cotham, Jr., Texas Civil War historian and author of Juneteenth, The Story Behind The Celebration. “News like that spread like wildfire. We know some slaves knew about the Emancipation Proclamation even before slaveowners. It didn’t mean anything because there was no army to enforce it.
R&I – txPAT ^^^
FoundingFrog
Article URL : https://www.npr.org/2022/06/20/1105945119/four-enduring-myths-about-juneteenth-are-not-based-on-facts